We’re delighted to introduce everyone to our latest team member, Dean Fitzmaurice. With lots of our clients looking to understand more about Microsoft Power Platform and how they can harness these technologies to help within their organisations, it was the perfect time for us to create the role of Power Platform Architect.
Working alongside our other technical experts, Dean will be understanding client requirements and then architecting solutions using the Power Platform and other components of the Microsoft technology stack to solve client challenges.
We let Dean settle in for a few weeks before we sat him down for a quick chat about who he is, why he joined jaam and what his thoughts on the Power Platform are.
A quick Q&A with Dean, the jaam automation Power Platform Architect
1. What brought you to jaam automation?
Well, jaam has an amazing team working with great technologies to engineer expertly built solutions for clients, so that was an attractive prospect!
I really enjoy the idea of being able to build things that help people and enable them to achieve what they need to achieve with minimal effort. And I’m the kind of person that really enjoys symmetry – I like things when they are symmetrical and I love bring symmetry to chaotic situations. That’s why I enjoy gathering requirements from people and, honestly, I absolutely love automation, it’s so satisfying when it all comes together.
2. How long have you been architecting within the Microsoft Power Platform?
I’ve been working with Microsoft Power Platform for more than 10 years and have been responsible for designing solutions for Microsoft 365 for the bulk of my career. Using all the Microsoft tools at my disposal, I’ve built solutions for document management and processing and automation for a huge amount of processes across various sectors.
3. What kind of solutions have you built with Power Platform?
All kinds! Some examples would be one in the banking industry in South Africa. There’s an agreement between the banks that allows them to call upon each other to collaborate to recover funds that have been erroneously deposited, and or investigate and recover funds suspected of being proceeds of crime, I built an app that facilitates that process and handles everything almost completely within Microsoft Power Apps.
Another example is when I had to create a solution for the electronic delivery of subpoenas from the local police service through to the banks, who then gather all the information needed in response to the subpoena and shared it back to the investigating officer. After lots of discussion with the client and stakeholders, I developed a Power App solution that delivered what was required.
I’ve built hundreds of internal flows, in Power Automate for a wide variety of processes such as writing data into an on premises SQL server from Excel spreadsheets and publishing Excel sheets for clients to interact with in OneDrive and SharePoint
4. What’s the process for building the solutions that people want?
Do you know, it’s a similar process almost every time! A client will come to me and say “Hey, Dean, I need to digitise this, or make this more efficient”, which starts the discussion to understand more about what the requirement is. We spend some time talking about it, understanding the specific needs and then I’ll design the solution, present it to the client to show the way that it will work and then get their thoughts. When the client is happy with the design, I start building out a proof of concept and finally, if approved, a production solution.
5. Why do you rate Microsoft Power Platform as an automation tool?
Well, the short answer is that I come from a Microsoft background and I have extensive Microsoft experience both on the infrastructure and development side, so it was natural for me to be interested in Power Platform. After making use of Power Platform for specific purposes it became clear to me that it could be used to integrate lots of different environments and lots of different solutions, and there are multiple tools inside the Power Platform basket.
Power Apps can essentially be used to interact with the whole outside world if needed, Power Pages can facilitate business to community websites and multiple internal apps can be created based off of business processes driven by the CRM or ERP system, for example. It’s just a very versatile toolbox for creating efficiencies in all kinds of internal and external processes. Many of us use Microsoft 365, so the easy integration into existing tools is a wonderful advantage as well.
6. What’s the licencing like for Microsoft Power Platform?
Well, it can be quite complex and it all depends on what you’re trying to achieve. You can use some of the tools within Power Platform to a certain extent as part of general Microsoft 365 licencing, but automations or processes with any level of complexity will require additional licence fees, and it can be quite tricky to calculate just what you’ll need and how much it will cost. Thankfully, expert help from people like the jaam automation team can help you navigate not only the tools you will need to achieve what you’re looking for, but what the likely cost will be in terms of licencing.
All of this said, there’s some pretty cool stuff that can be achieved with what comes “free” with Microsoft 365 licencing. A great example is Power BI, a data visualisation tool that provides business insight reporting in real time. It’s come a really long way since I first started using it, I always recommend our clients make use of it. There’s also some “free” Power Apps features available with 365 that we can help you work with to maximise on what you’ve got.
The jaam team often frequently works with our clients to integrate Microsoft Power Platform with the other technologies they already use, so that provides another opportunity to keep Microsoft licencing costs to the minimum to get what they need.
7. Anything else to add?
Really just to say that the potential of the Microsoft Power Platform is going from strength to strength, and I’m really looking forward to building new and innovative solutions for jaam automation clients.
We’ve not really touched on the capabilities of the newer components of Power Platform, such as AI Builder and Co-pilot and you can do some really cool things with them. We are also highly interested in the Governance and Compliance features of the Microsoft stack and there are some really useful tools which can help our clients streamline, secure and extend their Power Platform experience.
Need help with Microsoft Power Platform?
The addition of Dean as our Power Platform Architect really cements the jaam automation expertise in Microsoft technologies. If you are wondering what you can do with Power Platform, or would like some advice on your specific requirements, please just get in touch.